DICE

This was disappointing after enjoying their all-instrumental "Four Riders Of The Apocalypse" so much. The vocals are tolerable most of the time but they aren't that great. You can kind of see how this has more of a commercial direction compared to "Four Riders Of The Apocalypse" which is really it's downfall.

"Alea Lacta Est" is an uptempo track with lots of organ, drums and tasteful guitar. Pulsating synths. Vocals don't arrive until 3 minutes in, but it's the instrumental work that shines on this one. Very good song. "Annika" is an instrumental and perhaps my favourite track on here.The guitar and organ build in sound as drums come in. Piano 3 minutes in. "The Utopian Suntan" is a humerous look at the depletion of the ozone layer and the result of too much exposure to ultra violet rays. This really sounds like some of the silly songs QUEEN has recorded, you know the ones that sound like they are from the thirties. This especially sounds like that vocally. "The Venetian Garden" is an instrumental with some mellotron before 2 minutes. Piano is prominant.

"Follies" is the side long suite coming in at 22 minutes. The topic on this one is schizophrenia. I found the vocals really took away from the enjoyment of this song. Some nice guitar before 4 minutes followed by organ. Vocals are back. A good uptempo section comes in around the 6 minute mark with better sounding vocals. There is a piano solo with mellotron after 9 minutes. Vocal melodies and guitar after 14 minutes are good, and I really like the symphonic passage that follows after 15 minutes. The vocal section after 17 minutes is lacking a lot. Mellotron 19 minutes in. The last 2 minutes of the song I find annoying.

Some very good sections with unfortunately a lot of poor passages. Barely 3 stars in my opinion. Please check out their "Four Horses Of The Apocalypse" though.